Troubled Times-Alfred, Oops Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934)-A Film Review 

DVD Review

By Film Critic Sam Lowell

The Man Who Knew Too Much, starring Peter Lorre, directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, 1934

The last director Sir Alfred Hitchcock (I guess you can still use the honorific “sir” if a guy is dead and in any case he longingly coveted that title so I will stick with it) had two period in his long film directing career (three if you include his television work). The early British period which produced among other films the one under review, The Man Who Knew Too Much and the American period with such gems as the really chilling Psycho and The Birds. While nobody would claim that the British period films compared with the production values of the later period you can see the little tweaking that Hitchcock would do with his later films in this one.       

There was no escaping the reality of the 1930s after Hitler’s rise to power that any thriller would have to have as a part of the plot the threat of assassination to political figures as part of the mix. This film is a classic example of the genre in the 1930s (as in the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet Union would ask as foil for espionage fare. Here an ordinary English couple with their young daughter are in Switzerland for a clay pigeon shot (well, maybe I had better amend that “ordinary English couple” and make it a stiff upper lip English couple) when friend is mysteriously shot. Before he goes beyond the pale though he confides in the husband that he has to get some information to the British consulate. The husband dutifully gets the information and is ready to move heaven and earth to make sure the proper authorities get the crucial information.

Well the husband wanted to move heaven and earth except that a nefarious foreign agent, played by Peter Lorre, and his minions who are up to no good have kidnapped the couple’s daughter as a hostage. The couple go back to London to await their fate. The play is that Lorre and his crew are in that fair town to set up and commit an assassination on an important foreign dignitary from an unnamed country (although it could have been one of a number that were unstable after World War). The dastardly deed was to be done while that diplomat was attending a classical music concert. The wife whose quick action while she was in attendance at that same concert averted that fate for the hapless diplomat.              

Get this though the assassin left a trail for the husband and seemingly every bobby in London to follow to their hide-out. That proved to be curtains for Lorre and his crafty crew as the police performed a classic shoot-out with the bad guys. Lorre took it in the end. As for the daughter showing her metal despite her age skillfully escaped the clutches of the assassin who was fatally shot by her mother who was the crack clay pigeon shooter. How about that. If you want to see an early product of a thriller master check this one out because of that lot this is probably the best.